Authentication, identification and authorization have become increasingly important in almost all aspects of man-machine interaction, since access rights to valuable or sensitive data typically cannot be verified physically. The applications spans from everyday life situation as using an automatic teller machine (ATM) and securing the privacy using wireless communication systems, to protecting government or industrial secrets and ensuring safe transactions in commerce.
Great attention has been given to the area of identifying and authorizing a person for granting access to a computer system or certain premises, for example. The methods and arrangements includes using personal identification numbers (PIN), various biometrical devices/methods, as for example automated fingerprint or face recognition. These methods and arrangements are characterized by that a person is identifying herself to a device, and the device, typically through the use of various software means, grants access to the use of the device, access to certain premises or access to a database, for example.
An area which has been given considerably less attention, but which is of increasing importance, is the authentication of a device or system to a user. In many circumstances a user needs a verification that a device is what the user believes it is and/or that a system has not been tampered with. This is further illustrated by the following examples: